Legend of the Fifth
by Elsyra
Summary: Upon the discovery of an old friend named Linh, Toph has no idea what kind of powers the gang will have to encounter-and figure out how to control. It could mean unravelling the very foundation their world lives by. Post-war, everything canon.


**A/N:** Hey, ya'all! This is my first Avatar fanfic, which surprises me since I love the story so much. It is written for coolcat101s, who kindly reviewed one of my new stories. Thanks, cat!

**Summary:** Upon the discovery of an old friend, Toph has no idea what kind of powers the gang will have to encounter-and figure out how to control. It could mean unravelling the very foundation their world lives by.

This was originally intended to be a one-chapter thing, but I liked the idea so much that it's definitely turning into a multichap, possibly a long one. Rated K+ for some sass. ^_^

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><p>Toph grinned slyly, pocketing her fresh toffees as she walked towards her and Katara's intended meeting spot. <em>These' will teach walrus-face not to sass me, <em>she thought smugly. Her waterbending friend had not yet finished buying bread, so Toph strolled to the street's end, where bustling carts and bare earth melted into lush greenery. She heard very few people and decided to sit, since Katara could easily find her there. Just as she popped a piece of candy in her mouth, Toph heard a familiar voice singing a children's planting ditty. _That _definitely_ isn't Katara..._

_ "The apples feed me and I feed them_

_ The truck feeds the apples _

_ The roots feeds the trunk _

_ The seeds feeds the roots _

_ I feed them and the apples feed me_

_ The honey feeds me and I feed it_

_ The bees make the honey_

_ The flowers feed the bees_

_ The stem feeds the flower_

_ The seeds feed the stems_

_ I plant them and the honey feeds me..."_

The earthbender could not believe her ears. And yet vibrations from the ground told Toph that the singer rushing over to her and she laughed. "Linh? Is that really you!"

"Toph!" As expected, Linh gave one of her signature bomb-rushing hugs. "I haven't seen you in years!"

"I've never seen you," Toph laughed, returning her old friend's embrace. "So how have you been since I left? And what are you doing so far from home?" He brow furrowed in confusion; Linh's mother worked as a maid for the Bei Fong household and she never told her daughter to come all the way to this market.

Linh bit her lip and sighed. "After you went away, my mother was fired." As small grin quirked her lips up. "Apparently your mom and dad thought I was a bad influence on you, too."

"I'd say _I _was the bad influence on _you,_" Toph chuckled. Then, her face turned serious for a moment. "I'm so sorry, Linh—it's all my fault your mom was fired. I—"

"Don't worry, Toph, she found another job over here right away. I mean, with her cooking, how could anyone resist?"

Toph gave a sigh of relief. "So true! My parents take for granted what they have; I bet they miss her cakes horribly. Oh, Linh, you and your mom were the only people who ever made sense when I was little. Except you're way too nice." They both laughed, reminiscing about their childhood together, before war had torn most friends from one another, some for good.

After a little while, Toph remembered agreeing to meet Katara by the fountain. She was about to ask Linh if she would come and meet her other friends, but the other girl asked something first, something she had never expected.

"Toph—you know the avatar, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Aang. Why...?"

Linh's voice dropped to a whisper. "Remember when you tried to teach me to earthbend because you sensed I had bending chi?"

"Uh-huh—that worked about as well as trying to tell Mom I didn't want to wear dresses all the time." Toph fondly rolled her eyes.

"Well...I can bend."

"That's great! Maybe I just sucked at teaching back then." Toph though of Aang and nodded. "Yup—that's definitely why. But what does this have to do with him, anyway?" There was a pregnant pause which made Toph frown. "And why do you sound like it's a bad thing?"

"I can't bend earth," Linh murmured.

"Oh... Waterbender, then? I could see you as a healer or something like that."

"No."

"Okay... Fire? Seriously?" At the lack of response, Toph huffed, "spit it out already, Linh! You're freaking me out here." Suddenly, Toph's milky eyes widened. "There's no way. You can't possibly be an ai—"

"I'm _not _an airbender, Toph," Linh whispered. "There is... a fifth element."

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><p>Katara started to get worried. She had been searching the crowded street for her earthbending friend, but not a trace of the earthbender could be found. After twenty minutes, she finally spotted Toph talking with a about girl her age at the end of the road. The girl seemed to be close friends with Toph, but not much like her; she looked like a nervous rabbit, her wide brown eyes shifting around beneath messy red bangs. And from what if looked like, she was telling Toph something very important.<p>

"WHAT!"

Sighing to herself, Katara thought it might be a good idea to introduce herself and figure out what had Toph so worked up. She walked over to the pair, observing with slight amusement as the red-haired girl tried to calm Toph down.

"There's no way! That's completely insane! There's no wa—"

The girl gave up reasoning with Toph and stared at her with a determined, thoughtful, and slightly annoyed glare. And suddenly Toph _did _calm down, her mouth still hanging open in disbelief.

Katara cleared her throat and smiled at Toph's mysterious friend. "Hello, I'm Katara. What's you're name? Sorry to interrupt, by the way. I've been looking all over the place for Toph. We came shopping together, in case she didn't mention."

"I'm Linh," the girl answered shyly. "Nice to meet you. It's okay. I was just telling Toph—"

"She was talking about her, uh, bending. Katara is a waterbender."

"Yes," Katara replied, confused as to why Toph had cut her friend off. "So, what element do you bend, Linh?"

"Well, it's complicated..."

Toph shook her head, still struggling to come to terms with what Linh had shown her. "We have to go find Aang right away. Sokka's still eating fried fish right?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "And Aang is with him, right."

"Yeah, but what—?"

Before either girl could get a word in, Toph was dragging them both to the other side of the market, not caring who she had to shove out of the way.

Meanwhile, in a much more peaceful setting, Aang was just about to take a bite of his miso soup. He blew on the steaming broth, mouth watering at the smell of carefully-portioned seaweed, just enough not to make it too salty. And _just_ as he lifted the spoon to his lips, almost able to taste it-Sokka came crashing into him. "Dude! They're freaking out and it's scary—_help!__"_

Aang regained his balance, sadly managing to save only a meager portion of his soup. "_Who's_ freaking out, Sokka?"

Sokka flailed his arms, trying to point toward his sister, Toph, and Linh. "They're yelling like banshees! I mean, Katara always does that, but this combination is scary..."

When Aang turned around and observed the scene, he couldn't help but agree. He felt bad for the anxious girl in his friends' midst. "Um... What's up, guys?"

Both Katara's and Toph's glares transferred from each other to Aang, who felt the sudden urge to run away.

"Toph won't tell me what's going on!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"You're hiding something!"

"That's not the point—we have to—"

Linh snapped internally and backed away from the other slightly. She stared at them the same way as before, but this time, her hands were aimed at them individually. A barely visible shock of violet light emitted from her chi, flashing as she crossed her arms. Both Katara and Toph stopped arguing, hugged briefly, and turned to face their other friends.

"What was that all about?" Aang asked, wide-eyed. Sokka only laughed at the strange interaction, chowing down on yet another piece of fried mackerel. As usual, Katara was the first to come to her senses.

"Aang, this is Toph's childhood friend, Linh," she said, motioning to the girl, who smiled and shook the airbender's hand. "Linh, meet Aang." She then stepped aside to let Linh explain for herself.

"Nice to meet you, Aang... I am so sorry to bother you, but it is very important and—kind of dangerous..."

Toph muttered under hear breath, "_kind of?"_

"I have some questions about a—_unique_ type of bending that could either be really good or really bad." Linh shot her friend a look before continuing nervously. "And, well, since you—know all types of bending—I mean I thought you might, erm—I didn't mean to assume anything, but..."

"I'd be glad to tell you anything I know," Aang offered. He grinned at the girl, puzzled as to why she seemed so stressed out. "But please keep in mind that I don't know _everything _about bending. It's kind of a drawback to being an avatar."

Linh nodded hesitantly. "Like a jack of all trades, expert of none, sort of?" Then she blushed furiously and shook her head. "I mean—I didn't mean to say—of course you're good at them all, and—"

"Oh relax, Linny," Toph huffed, rolling her eyes. "Dopey here isn't going to fry you into oblivion if you insult him. In that case, I would have been dust years ago. He's about as easy to offend as that it's hard _not _to offend old Walrus-face, here," she added, cheerfully patting Sokka's shoulder. "And believe me, that's hard. Look at him? Don't you just want to make fun of him?" Sokka scoffed in indignation, accidentally spewing out particles of fried fish as if to support her point.

"Okay," Linh whispered, nodding slowly. _If there's anyone I can trust with this, it's Toph_. _And all of her new friends seem really nice, albeit a little weird..._ "Would it be possible for us all to go somewhere more private?"

"Sure! We were going to go play games on the field anyway and it doesn't look like there's anyone there, except Appa." At Aang's announcement, all five of the teens walked to their new spot and sat down in the soft grass beside the resting bison. "So, Linh, what is it you need to know?"

The redhead swallowed and took a deep breaths, unable to plan ahead what she would say to the Avatar while her thoughts froze. Instead, she unfolded her secret in impromptu fashion, explaining everything from instinct. This was not the time to be her timid self, even if it meant she had to spirit-bend her own mind. It was one of the most frightening powers Linh possessed, and she had never told anyone in the whole world about it.

"Avatar Aang, I can bend not any one of the four elements that have founded our world's nations. I cannot split rock, breath fire, summon waves, or surf the wind's current. But I _can _bend." Everyone but Toph looked confusedly at her. Katara silently wondering what the poor girl had eaten—or not eaten—that morning.

"When I look at any person," Linh continued, "I can allow my eyes to see the colors of their aura and know deep things about their soul. I can use that information against them and make them tell me or someone else anything, truth or lie. I can go further than that and make it so they have no control over their body, how they move, think, or speak."

Linh looked at Aang through wide, chestnut eyes, imploring for help. "I could bend your spirit."

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><p>So what do you think? Is it a good idea? Terrible? All flames will be used for productive fire-bending practice, I'll have you know. ^_^ Please click that little blue button! (If you're the first, you might just get a prize, heeheehee...)<p> 


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